Legume Responses to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculation in Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Currently, the sustainability of ecosystems is in danger due to both application of varied degrading agents and intensive exploitation of tropical forests. During the last decades, inventories of the soil's productive capacity indicate severe degradation and loss of arable lands. The situation is highly exacerbated in economically disadvantaged countries. The ever increasing human populations prompt extensive usage of agrochemicals to attain optimum yields. The use of such chemicals leads to losses in soil fertility, and hence, requires an alternative to boost crop productivity while sustaining ecological quality. Globally, there is widespread interest in the use of legumes due to their multifaceted functions. It is a well established fact that legumes are essential components in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems. The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are universal and ubiquitous rhizosphere microflora forging symbiosis with plethora of plant species and acting as biofertilizers, bioprotectants, and biodegraders. The arbuscular mycorrhizal-legume symbiosis is suggested to be the ideal solution to the improvement of soil fertility and the rehabilitation of arid lands. The voluminous literature has revealed that AMF improve the overall growth of leguminous plants growing under diverse agroecological zones. Furthermore, the tripartite symbiosis between legume-mycorrhizal-rhizobium has shown superior improvements in legumes. In this chapter, attention is paid to association of AMF with leguminous plants and effect of composite inoculation of legume plants with mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia under different growth conditions. Furthermore, mycorrhizal dependency of legumes, effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on productivity of legumes with special emphasis on alleviation of environmental stresses, and rehabilitation of desertified and/or degraded habitats is described.